how much spam do we need

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/449743#Comment_449743

it really is time to put an end to this

[Y] [Y] [Y]

William Gabriel

Yes, and I hope Logos realizes how much value these forums add to their software. They have been a tremendous help to me, and no doubt many others, and it would be a shame to "lose" them.

I know a lot of the spam posts are deleted after they're identified, but as someone who reads primarily through rss, the spam is there to stay; it does not leave the feed and just clutters the list of post titles.

Armin

I do hope that Logos considers some of the options that have been mentioned here:

http://community.logos.com/forums/t/62065.aspx

Armin

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/449744#Comment_449744

I do hope that Logos considers some of the options that have been mentioned here:

http://community.logos.com/forums/t/62065.aspx

Armin

I am fast coming to the opinion that Logos must resent everyone who reports or complains about SPAM. Right now we have spam on the forums that has been reported. There are also other threads that are being answered by Logos staff while the spam is being ignored. The spammers don't wait until weekends or after-hours any more. They post spam in the morning and now in the middle of the business hours of Bellinham without any action. What is the use any more to report it?

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/449943#Comment_449943

Yes, but a biig THANK YOU to NB.Mick who seems to start his life much earlier than us Norte Americanos.

He usually has the forum all swept up and nice and neat before I get my coffee ready each morning.

JT (alabama24)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/449957#Comment_449957

a biig THANK YOU to NB.Mick who seems to start his life much earlier than us Norte Americanos.

+1 [:)]

John Kaess

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/449943#Comment_449943

We don't need to change forum software or go to yahoo, they just need to require that a "captcha" be completed as part of the process of getting access to the forums. Problem solved, spam goes away. And yes, i'm getting pretty frustrated with it. Often when i check the forum half the posts are spam.

Glenn F

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/449962#Comment_449962

But I hate those Captcha things. It takes me 5 to 10 tries to get ir right! Lol. No, I am not THAT old.

John Kaess

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450004#Comment_450004

But I hate those Captcha things. It takes me 5 to 10 tries to get ir right! Lol. No, I am not THAT old.

You only have to do it once. And it stops the spam.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450004#Comment_450004

But I hate those Captcha things. It takes me 5 to 10 tries to get ir right! Lol. No, I am not THAT old.

But you're already a trusted member of the forums; you wouldn't have to go through it. They should just institute it for new accounts from now on.

However actually, most of the spam being posted lately is probably being done by humans not bots (note how they often actually try to make some comment that sounds like they are responding to the thread), so they'd be able to solve the CAPTCHAs.

A better solution would be to require moderation for any user with a single-digit post-count posting anything that contains links to non-Logos websites. Once someone has been approved by a moderator (which should take less than a day), then they'd be a whitelisted forum member and not have to jump through any further hoops.

Here's an interesting article I just found on how this underground world of spamming works (see some of the articles it links to as well):

http://www.allspammedup.com/2008/11/how-spammers-get-paid/

NB.Mick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450006#Comment_450006

But I hate those Captcha things. It takes me 5 to 10 tries to get ir right! Lol. No, I am not THAT old.

You only have to do it once. And it stops the spam.

why should it? The spammers here are human beings and even if they were scripts, someone sets them up and if the captcha was only for address validation, this could easily be solved by a script showing the captchas to its maker.

Moderation of posts with links (unless coming from whitelisted users) would probably help, though.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450013#Comment_450013

I'm always amazed at the level of entitlement of a few people.

Some folks seem to think the folks at Logos in charge of these forums are idiots, and have never considered any solutions to the spam problem, or don't realize it is present. They think that because they signed up for this forum, for which they paid nothing and provide no support, they have a right a a spam-free world here.

They assume things like captchas and moderation and all those other tricks just never crossed the feeble minds of those in charge of the forums, and if only they'd listen to the sage advice of the forum members, all the spam would go away.

Well, I have a brilliant idea. How about cutting them some slack, and assume they are working on it, and considering all these options and discarding the ones that are a bigger pain than they are worth, and trying stuff we don't even know about? And some of them are doing all this at the cost of time away from their families, so we few, we entitled few, who aren't smart enough not to click on the Viagra posts, won't be bothered. How about a few words of appreciation instead of all the whining? How about volunteering to scan the forums and report the spam posts, instead of griping at others about them?

C'mon, man!!

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450020#Comment_450020

Ah Doc... no one said that anyone clicked on the links... it is just very annoying to have it come across the forum, and it truly does not have to. many years ago we had a forum for logos that did not allow spam, very similar to yahoo groups which also do work. I moderate several yahoo groups and I don't have spam on my groups and there are more than 4,000 people on my groups. In addition, when these spammers get your address, they target you directly... I don't know how they are doing it, but they are getting our addresses in some way as our spam is increasing as well. so, please just take it easy, and let the logos people hear that we are not thrilled with this and lets see what they come up with. And BTW, you suggest that scan the forums and report the spam... we have done that, and it keeps coming.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450045#Comment_450045

FYI, everyone. Chill out. I emailed Bob Pritchett about the problem. He was somewhat aware of it, but had been rather busy lately and had not been spending much time on the forums and hadn't seen how bad it had become, so he thanked me for reporting it, and they are going to work on addressing it now that Logos 5 is out the door. However it will take some time as they have a new developer to come up to speed on the forum software. So be patient.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450045#Comment_450045

I moderate several yahoo groups

Kelly, if you moderate Yahoo groups, then you probably know how annoying it is when a newbie comes into your group and one of his or her first posts is words to the effect of, "Doesn’t it seem that maybe there should be a change in the forum
system?" That was your first sentence and you didn't have 10 posts yet.

The good folks at Logos KNOW the spam is annoying, and they KNOW it needs work. They don't need to hear it from you or me.

And if you moderate Yahoo groups, you also know that even with new members moderated, if a Trojan gets ahold of someone's address book, and they are already a member, you still get spam on the group. I own the largest handloading list on the web, with over 2000 members. Weekly, I have to re-moderate some member's account because they clicked on something they shouldn't have and the trojan is sending emails to the group. There's no way to stop it without moderating everyone, and that's not gonna happen. It just takes work by the listowner and moderators. And the forums here are a very different animal than a Yahoo group; yet Logos folks do a pretty decent job of cleaning up messes.

Nobody wants the spam. But most of us don't need whiny threads about it either.

fgh

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450047#Comment_450047

they have a new developer to come up to speed on the forum software

Did you get an impression of whether this new developer was in addition to David or instead of David?

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450054#Comment_450054

Perhaps this is an appropriate time to share this:

Don't we all just love getting into arguments with strangers on these forums? It's so fun and it is such an enhancement to our relationship with God! [;)]

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450069#Comment_450069

"I use it to look at pictures of cats and get in arguments with strangers."

[:D] Thanks Rosie. Don'tcha know, it is all about perspective?

Armin

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450011#Comment_450011

A better solution would be to require moderation for any user with a single-digit post-count posting anything that contains links to non-Logos websites. Once someone has been approved by a moderator (which should take less than a day), then they'd be a whitelisted forum member and not have to jump through any further hoops.

I agree. This is what I suggested in the other thread:

http://community.logos.com/forums/p/62065/438940.aspx#438940

Anybody who bought something from Logos (except freebies) can immediately be whitelisted. This way the forums will hopefully stay free of spam and the number of people getting annoyed by a delay of their postings will be minimal.

Armin

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450054#Comment_450054

Doc, I don’t know how logos counts as I have many more than 10 posts…
maybe it is the same problem with the spam… as in something is broken. Doc, I have been here since the logos 4 beta…
yes, a lot more than 10 posts… now, what would I think if someone said in one
of their early post that They thought that the answer given was very helpful,
we would all believe it and have no problem with it… but when it goes against what
we really want to hear… you get defensive.
Sometimes the truth really hurts. BTW, saying "if" I moderate several yahoo groups sounds to me as If you think that I am lying... that is not really professional where I come from!

Kelly

William Gabriel

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450020#Comment_450020

Well, I have a brilliant idea. How about cutting them some slack, and assume they are working on it, and considering all these options and discarding the ones that are a bigger pain than they are worth, and trying stuff we don't even know about? And some of them are doing all this at the cost of time away from their families, so we few, we entitled few, who aren't smart enough not to click on the Viagra posts, won't be bothered. How about a few words of appreciation instead of all the whining? How about volunteering to scan the forums and report the spam posts, instead of griping at others about them?

C'mon, man!!

...

Nobody wants the spam. But most of us don't need whiny threads about it either.

...

So, if the spam bothers us, then we shouldn't click on it, and we shouldn't come here and make any complaints or whine. Is that true just for the spam, or for other behavior on the forums too?

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450153#Comment_450153

The word 'whine' is meant to anger another person. That was the good doc's goal.

Similar to sending your hunting dogs out.

JT (alabama24)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450125#Comment_450125

I don’t know how logos counts as I have many more than 10 posts

Have you changed or updated your profile recently, especially your email address? This can reset your post count. Logos can fix this manually… maybe a Logos employee will see this post and help you with that.

George Somsel

How much spam do we need? At 2 slices per sandwich, you can probably get 3-4 sandwiches from a can. I'm not sure how many are on the forums, but I tend to think that you would need to average more than 1 sandwich per person. That's a LOT of spam.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450068#Comment_450068

they have a new developer to come up to speed on the forum software

Did you get an impression of whether this new developer was in addition to David or instead of David?

Heard from Bob.

"Impression" is: David will not be the spam solution. I was rather surprised to hear Bob has ideas for handling spam that had not been mentioned in any of the forum threads. (I should not have been surprised since Bob thinks outside the box.)

Armin

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450200#Comment_450200

I was rather surprised to hear Bob has ideas for handling spam that had not been mentioned in any of the forum threads. (I should not have been surprised since Bob thinks outside the box.)

Now I am getting curious. Can you share his ideas?

Armin

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450125#Comment_450125

I have many more than 10 posts

Yes, I see that now.

saying "if" I moderate several yahoo groups sounds to me as If you think that I am lyin

Allow me to rephrase what else I said, as there was no intent to question your character:

"And since you moderate Yahoo groups, you also know that even with new
members moderated, if a Trojan gets ahold of someone's address book,
and they are already a member, you still get spam on the group. I own
the largest handloading list on the web, with over 2000 members.
Weekly, I have to re-moderate some member's account because they clicked
on something they shouldn't have and the trojan is sending emails to
the group. There's no way to stop it without moderating everyone, and
that's not gonna happen. It just takes work by the listowner and
moderators. And the forums here are a very different animal than a
Yahoo group; yet Logos folks do a pretty decent job of cleaning up
messes."

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450200#Comment_450200

I was rather surprised to hear Bob has ideas for handling spam that had not been mentioned in any of the forum threads. (I should not have been surprised since Bob thinks outside the box.)

That's what I've been trying to say to folks. Thanks for bringing this to the front of the conversation.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450176#Comment_450176

The word 'whine' is meant to anger another person. That was the good doc's goal.

Nope. The word 'whine' was used to point out the lack of usefulness of complaining about the obvious; there was no intent to anger. The frustration of having someone showing only 9 posts call the structure of the entire forums into question added to the motivation to use a stronger word.

Trust me, I can p*** off everybody in a hurry when I want to. There won't be any doubt when that happens. ;-)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450153#Comment_450153

So, if the spam bothers us, then we shouldn't click on it, and we shouldn't come here and make any complaints or whine. Is that true just for the spam, or for other behavior on the forums too?

Yes! Someone gets it!

(No, just for the spam. And theological debates. Everything else is on the table.)

;-)

[Seriously: No, you should never click on it, except to report a post as spam. You should make complaints (reports, really) through appropriate channels so it can be dealt with. Starting a new thread doesn't do anything to curb the spam or the spammer. And no, you should certainly never whine. Identification of genuine whining requires verbal communication, as it is a function (in our culture) of vocal tone. That isn't possible in an online forum. But the word, which carries a stronger connotation of displeasure than 'complain' or 'express dissatisfaction', etc., might be used in a superlative sense to point out a perceived lack of gratitude, or a sense of entitlement, for examples.]

Lynden O. Williams

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450255#Comment_450255

I am doing some "whining" of my own by requesting that we let this post die.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450178#Comment_450178

at first I would have said no Alabama, but yes, last I did get into my account, but don't remember changing anything... I don't know if that would cause it or not.

thanks, and maybe they will fix it!

kelly

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450183#Comment_450183

LOL George, spam the Hawaiian dish of champions!

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450220#Comment_450220

I was rather surprised to hear Bob has ideas for handling spam that had not been mentioned in any of the forum threads. (I should not have been surprised since Bob thinks outside the box.)

Now I am getting curious. Can you share his ideas?

Armin

I'd really like to leave it to Bob to decide how much he wants to share publicly where spammers can see it. I am trying to stay focused on the bigger picture and not let spammers get under my skin. Bob gave me some peace of mind with assurance he knows what is going on, he is aware of the distress the spam causes some folks, and he has creative solutions. My guess is we will see a difference soon.

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450125#Comment_450125

I don’t know how logos counts as I have many more than 10 posts…

The count is normally a straightforward count. However, if you change your account email, the count starts over unless you request that Logos manually repairs it.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450365#Comment_450365

I don’t know how logos counts as I have many more than 10 posts…

The count is normally a straightforward count. However, if you change your account email, the count starts over unless you request that Logos manually repairs it.

You can email forums@logos.com to ask the forum developers to restore your post count.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450365#Comment_450365

Thank you MJ, I did not change my email last week, but at the same time I guess that it is not a huge deal as to how many posts I have made. I will more than likely just leave it as it is...

thanks

Kelly

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450366#Comment_450366

thanks Rosie, I guess it is in my mind not a big deal... Doc was the only that I have ever seen mention it or make note of it...

Kelly

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450402#Comment_450402

thanks Rosie, I guess it is in my mind not a big deal... Doc was the only that I have ever seen mention it or make note of it...

Kelly

Looks like you've been restored to your prior post count. That's good. I'd sure want to have mine restored if it got reset to zero! [:)]

Jeremy Einfeld

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450400#Comment_450400

Hey Kelly, I have fixed your post count.

Hello forum users! I am the new admin for the community forums, and should be seeing more of me as I take over for David (or more accurately taking over for the "new developer" that was taking over for David). Your concerns over the spam situation are not being ignored.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450413#Comment_450413

Hello forum users! I am the new admin for the community forums, and should be seeing more of me as I take over for David (or more accurately taking over for the "new developer" that was taking over for David). Your concerns over the spam situation are not being ignored.

Hi Jeremy! Welcome. Good to see a new face from Logos around here.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450406#Comment_450406

thanks Rosie, yes I guess it has.

Kelly

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/450413#Comment_450413

thanks Jeremy for the reset! and thank you for taking care of the spam... welcome to a thankless job! but we will still love you even if we don't say it!

Kelly